Separator



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.) I'

DISEWELL.

. 'S-EPARATOR.

No. 546,252. Patented Sept. 10, 1895.

WYZWESSES XWFEJVTOIi 5% 6% Q 411. @142 ANDREW BBHMAMPHDTO-UTKEWASMNGTON D C.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

D. SEWELL. SEPARATOR.

(Na Model.)

No. 546,252. Patented Sept, 10, 1895.

WITNESSES INVENTOR fltiorrzeyl mum I.GRAIMM. VNGTOLIFKO. WASKIKmIJLC.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 (No Model.)

D. SEWELL.

SEPARATOR.

No. 546,252. I Patented Sept. 10, 1895.

(27 INVENTOCR H WM? 11 1 TNES 8 E8 N r'rn' terns nrn'r @rrrcn DELOS SEYVELL, OF BUFFALO, NEXV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE GRAND RAPIDS SOALPER, GRADER, AND PURIFIER COMPANY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

sePARAToR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent no; 546,252, dated September 10, 1895.

Application filed February 16,1891. Serial No. 381,719 (lilo model) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DELOS SEWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buifalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Separators, of which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention pertains to mills, and has for its object a scalper and chop-grader in which the separation between the various qualities of material is eiiected by a continuously-moving current of air in combination with 2. vibrating sieve. The force and direction of the air is regulated'by means of the mechanism described, and which operates across and obliquely upward against the falling particles of the break or chop scattered into it by means of the said scalper-sieve placed at the upper part and within the casing of the separator. My separator is especially designed to be used in grading the material coming from the rolls of roller-mills, after having been subjected to the process of partial crushing and partial grinding employed in roller-mills. This material in this condition is sometimes known as break, and is called first break and second break, in accordance with the number of times it has passed through the rolls, and after each break it is passed through the separator and divided into parts of various degrees of fineness or lightness, and those parts whioh have not been sufficiently broken up are returned to the rolls for the succeeding breaking process and the bran and other material from which all of the flour particles have been removed is separated out and laid aside. In my separator I employ what may be termed a rotary air-'currentthat is, the machine is so constituted that a rotating fan sets in motion the air which is contained within the casing of the machine, and it is not intended to draw into the casing any air from the outside or to force out any of the contained air, but is designed to produce currents within the casing itself and to regulate those currents, so that they will be concenand comparatively quiet on other parts of the interior. At the same time the actively-moving currents of air are to be, so regulated as to take up and carry into the settling-chamber only the very lightest or dust particles, permitting the heavier parts to drop through the current of air and out of the casing at the proper delivery-openings. I accomplish these results by the hereinafter-described mechanism arranged and shown in the drawings, and as described in the specification.

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the casing and its included parts. Fig. 2 represents a section taken horizontally at X X of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the machine, showing the various outlets and conveyors and also the means for driving the same. Fig. a is a partial plan View of the grading-sieve, showing the sections of different degrees of fineness.

The casing A has an inlet-opening a and outlet-openings 1 2 3 4c 5, the outlet-openings i5 having conveyersin them. At about the middle portion of the casing A is a fan B, of which the shaft 1) extends out through the side of the casing to receiveits support and to receive the driving-wheel by means of which the fan is rotated. At either end of the fan, leading into the eye of the fan, is a flue O 0, extending downward along the side of the easing to near the bottom, then turning with the outline of the casin Each line extends upward to the top of the casing, where the two communicate with a central flue D, that leads down between the two side tines O c and opens at d into the main chamber of the separator. Around the fan 13 are diaphragms F H and adjustable valves E G, which form the walls of an interior chamber within which the fan rotates, and of which the valvular portion of the wall can be adjusted to permit the passage of a large or small amount of air from the fan outward. The walls of the interior chamber are represented by E F G H, of which the part F is without opening except a small opening closed by the drop-valve at the junction of F and the casing A. The part H above the fan may be made without openings or with openings, preferably with one or two small openings. The parts E G are composed of slat-valves arranged to be operated like the slats of a window-blind, so as to permit the passage between them of an amount of air proper for the work to be done,

depending upon the coarseness of break. In

front of the slat-valves E are one or morelines of cant-boards I '11 lying across the space below the scalper-sieve J, and in front of the valve E similar cant-boards K are located across the space in front of G and below the portion of the sieve J which lies beyond the valve G. The cant-boards i K receive the falling meal upon their upper surface and scatter it into the current of air passing between them, retarding the descent of the meal or break, and causing the air to act more efficiently in separating and grading it.

In front of the cant-boards I is a diaphragm L, compelling the air to dip beneath it in its passage from the fan around the walls of the separator until it enters the upfiue B on its way to the eye of the fan. The air passing up between the cant-boards I f: and dipping downward around L forms an eddy, which acts in a very efficient manner to take up and carry along with it the smaller portions or dust of the meal. At the upper end of the diaphragm L is a bumper M, against -which the end of the scalper-sieve J strikes as it is moved up and down by means of the cam O. A second bumper m is located near the upper end of the scalper-sieve and beneath it, and is struck by the sieve J with the down stroke of the sieve at the same time that the bumper M receives the end stroke. The sieve J is suspended from springs S S, which are attached to the sides of the casing A or to the bar T,made firm to the casing. This sieve is divided into sections of different degrees of fineness m m m m as illustrated in Fig. 4, the finest being at the head of the machine.

Across the framework of the sieve is a bar or cross-piece p, on the under side of which are wedge-shaped pieces I, and held in position by means of a bolt and setting-nut. Underneath each wedge is a cam O on a shaft that extends to the outside of the casing. The rotation of the shaft, carrying the cam with it, raises the sieve and moves it endwise, then lets it drop and strike against the bumpers M m, and the shaking motion is suddenly stopped. This acts to compel the lighter material to fall through the meshes of the sieve, especially irregular pieces that might otherwise hang to the wires of the sieve. The lightest material of all passes with the eddying current of air between the cant-boards I i, and is carried with the current of air around the walls of the case until it finally settles at 4 and is delivered through the conveyor at that point.

Fine middlings passing through the screen directly under the feed-spout, after having the liner material blown outfrom them by means of air coming through the valve G,settle at and are conveyed away by the conveyor 5. Coarser iniddlings and coarser particles are delivered through the outlets, break chop at 2 and coarse middlings at 3, and bran is delivered at the outlet 1, so that a separator such as is shown in the drawings will grade the break or chop into five different qualities of material. I

The effective action of the air-current is greatly increased by the eddies that are formed by the arrangement of the various cantboards and tipping diaphragms, which are so arranged as to produce a number of eddies or minor circular currents that tend to keep the material in motion, and thus compel the separation of the various parts by the combined action of the air-currents and gravity, and evenness of the grading of the material is aided by the peculiar character of the valves E G, which allow the air to pass be tween the slats in a number of thin streams rather than in a single large stream. These thin streams uniting as they emerge from between the slats pass forward through the fall ing meal in an evenly-moving mass, in which the force is everywhere uniform, and the of fective results are much better than where a smaller stream of air under greater tension is employed.

The housing of the fan-that is, the parts which surround the fanshould be far enough from the fan-blades to furnish chambers of considerable size, in which the air may equalize itself before passing through the valves. Drop valves f g are arranged to permit the escape of any dust that may get inside of thefan-housing or the flue leading to the eye of the fan. The valve f' hangs perpendicular and is held in place by gravity until the weight of accumulated material opens it. The valve 9 is hung on the upper side and is closed against the opening before which it hangs by the pressure of the air under the operation of the fan until the weight of accumulated material opens it.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as novel, and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a separator, the combination of a casing having inlet and outlet openings; a fan revolving freely within said casing, a housing for said fan, having openings through the walls thereof and the described slat valves to regulate the fiow of air through said openings from within outward,and an air flue, leading from without said housing into the eye of the fan, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a separator, the combination of a casing having inlet and outlet openings, a fan revolving freely within said casing, a housing for said fan having openings through the walls thereof, and the described slatted valves to regulate the flow of air through said openings from within outward, an air flue leading from without said housing into the eye of the fan, and a scalper sieve located within said casing, adapted to be vibrated, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In a separator, the combination of an outer casing having a feed opening and outlet openings; a fan freely revolving within said casing, a system of diaphragms and slat ITO 5&6 252 Valves forming a housing around said fan; a.- scalper sieve arranged to receive material from the feed opening and distribute it across the interior of said easing into the moving bodies of air, a slat valve having numerous openings and arranged to direct the air from said fen upward toward the tail of said sieve and a dip-board L arranged at the tail of said sieve as described to produce an eddy in the air current, and more thoroughly aspirate the material passing over the tail of the sieve as described.

l. In a separator, the combination of :1 cas- In presence of JHARLEs F. BURTON, 

